Life As We Know It
by ytilaturb
Summary: "They're not our family anymore," Derek said.  "No, but they're the closest thing we've got," Edwin said. By this time, he was standing face to face with Derek. "I'm taking Marti for the summer..."
1. Chapter 1

**Hey there people! I'm back! And this time, with a new story! :) Party Monster will be continued as soon as I can figure out how I can make a few things make sense in the story. But for now, I bring you my latest creation.**

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It was a sunny day, but it wasn't the sunny day where you'd be happy about the sunshine.

Derek was currently driving back from a funeral.

His dad and his step mom's funeral.

While Marti was at her grandmother's house, Edwin was at a friend's house as well as Lizzie; someone had broken into the house, shot and killed George and Nora. Derek and Casey, both twenty-three, were away at college.

When he pulled up to his parent's house and saw Edwin, Marti and Lizzie sitting on the porch steps. He turned off his car and got out.

"Where's Casey?" He asked them as he walked over to them.

"In the kitchen packing," Lizzie said.

Derek walked in the almost empty house and found Casey packing up the kitchen.

"Hey," he said, softly to her.

She turned to him, shocked that he would even show up to help her out with things. "Hey,"

"Need any help?"

"No, but I _do_ need to talk to you about Marti and Edwin, mostly Marti,"

"Ed is fine, he's goin' to SC and it's not that far from me, and Marti will be fine,"

"Derek, you live in downtown LA, do you think that's a suitable place for Marti to grow up?"

"Okay, you're in Laguna, sure it's probably a better place for her to grow up, but she's my sister and I know what's best for her. I'd rather her grow up and learn how to stand up for herself in LA then to grow up being a preppy bitch in Laguna,"

"You know, she may not be my step sister anymore but I still love and care for that little girl and I only want what's best for her and what's safe for her too,"

"She's not your step sister anymore, so why don't you worry about Lizzie and I'll worry about Marti and Edwin,"

"Look, just because you're pissed off at yourself doesn't mean you can take it out on me,"

"You think I'm pissed off at myself?"

"Derek, you haven't been around in three years, and you didn't even say anything in behalf of your father,"

"Well I'll say something on behalf of me, good riddance you're not gonna be in my life anymore,"

Two days later, after everything was packed and already shipped off to respective homes in California, they were all saying good byes to each other. Marti was sitting on Edwin's lap and Lizzie was sitting next to Edwin with her head rested on his shoulder.

Suddenly a cab pulled up and Lizzie knew that it was for her and her sister. Marti ran in to get Casey so Lizzie took this opportunity to give Edwin a quick kiss.

"I'll come and visit you when I can," he promised her.

She nodded and gave him a tight hug when Casey came out.

"Alright kid, time to go,"

Lizzie got up and gave Marti a big hug first and then Derek.

"Be good," he said to her.

"Bye Derek,"

Lizzie walked to the cab and waited. Edwin gave Casey a hug and a kiss on the cheek before he went to the cab as well to say one more good bye to Lizzie. Casey gave Marti the biggest hug she could give that little girl.'

"Marti, if you ever need anything, I'll always be here for you, sweetie," she said to her. "I'll always love you,"

"I love you too, Casey,"

Marti let go of Casey and sat down on the steps of the house she grew up in. Derek walked Casey to her cab while Edwin walked over to Marti.

"Hey Der, if you ever need anything, you can always give me a call," Casey said to him.

"Yeah, you too, I'm not that far away from you,"

Casey gave him a hug and a small kiss on the cheek, got in the car and Derek watched the cab take off.

Six months later…

Derek was at work at a new record label he started called Trinity Records. He was currently checking in on a new artist.

"How she doin' in there?" He asked his employee, Sean.

"She was a little shy but I think she's all good now,"

Suddenly, his phone rang and it was from the front office.

"Yes?"

"I have an Edwin here for you," the female voice said to him.

"Send him to my office please,"

Derek hung up his phone and went to his office. Once he got there, there was a knock on the door. He turned and saw his younger brother.

"I was expecting you tomorrow,"

"I decided to come a day early, maybe pick Marti up her last day of school today," Edwin explained.

"That'd actually be good, because I have a meeting in fifteen minutes so I can't pick her up, I was actually gonna have Megan pick her up and let her chill in my office,"

Edwin then noticed all the stacks of paperwork that was on Derek's desk. He looked at Derek, more spiffed up than usual. His hair was even fixed up a little bit. Something told him that his brother didn't spend much time at home, meaning that Marti was probably by herself a lot.

"When will you be home tonight?" Edwin asked.

"I'm not sure, but Marti has a key,"

Edwin shook his head.

"I guess I should probably head down to the school," he said to his older brother, "see you whenever,"

Derek watched his brother leave and he knew that Edwin wasn't very happy with him either.

Edwin pulled up to the middle school and waited for Marti. He saw her with someone of her friends and he honked. She looked over at him and she smiled.

"Edwin!" She shouted as she ran to him. He caught her in a huge hug.

"Hey,"

"I thought you were comin' tomorrow,"

"Surprise," he smiled at his little sister. "And I have another surprise for you too,"

"What is it?" She asked with big wide blue eyes.

"Well, it's more of where it is,"

"Well, where is it?"

"Oh, somewhere along the shore of Laguna,"

"We're visiting Casey and Lizzie?"

"Yep,"

And that simple answer got a high pitched scream and a hug from Marti.

When they got to Derek's apartment, Edwin was disgusted. The place was a mess. There were no words to describe how messy the place was. There was a pile of dirty dishes, trash from fast food and take out, dirty laundry, it was terrible. He couldn't believe that Derek let Marti live like that.

"Marti, is it always like this?"

"Pretty much," she said, "I have to fend for myself,"

"Why don't you go pack a bag for the summer," he said to her, "we're gonna leave tonight,"

Derek got home at about ten that night and saw that his apartment was clean. He walked further in and he saw Edwin sitting at the table.

"You cleaned,"

"Yeah, and I also gave Marti a real dinner too," Edwin said, "as disgusting as this place was, I cannot believe that you would let Marti live like this,"

"Live like what?"

"Derek, this place was disgusting," Edwin said to him in a bitter tone. "She said that you're hardly around and that she's on Ramen and Chef Boyardee. She's thirteen years old, Derek, she needs someone to be there, she needs a stable life,"

"Look, I'm doin' the best I can," Derek said.

"Yeah, at work, not here because this isn't a home for her,"

Derek looked away almost as if he was ashamed

"I'm taking Marti to Laguna for the summer,"

"The hell you are," Derek snapped, "it took us five years to get away from them,"

"No," Edwin snapped, standing up from his chair, "it took _you_ five years to get away from them. And I have no clue as to why you just stopped talking to the family-"

"They're not our family anymore," Derek said.

"No, but they're the closest thing we've got," Edwin said. By this time, he was standing face to face with Derek. "I'm taking Marti for the summer, and if you wanna see her, you can drive your stubborn ass down to Laguna and see her. If you don't, I'm takin' you to court,"

Edwin walked away towards Marti's small room and stopped when Derek started speaking again.

"Excuse me?" He asked, "I have custody of that child,"

"Correction," he said when he turned around, "we both have custody of that child, and I can assure you that I can give her a better life than you can,"

"Ed, you're only eighteen,"

"So? At least I'd be home when she got home from school, and at least I'd be able to give her a real meal, a stable life, and a place she'd actually like to come home to. And don't say that I can't because you know I have my own apartment with a room mate who has a child of their own so we're not partying like a bunch of losers,"

"You're not taking her away from me,"

"Well," he said to his older brother, "you have the ability to change that. Come to Laguna if you really wanna see your sister, and to prove to me and yourself that you can take care of her,"

"I can't just take off from work, you know that,"

"Then I guess I'll see you in court,"

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**So...thoughts?**


	2. Chapter 2

**I realized after I read some reviews saying it was choppy...my little breaks within the chapter were missing! So I replaced them with little x's. Hopefully that will be better since it's now apparent that we can no longer use the little dashes as chapter breaks. LAME! Anyways, here is chapter 2! And I'm super excited to be back and writing again!  
**

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"Welcome to Laguna," Edwin said to his younger sister.

"I'm so excited!" Marti exclaimed.

Edwin laughed as they pulled up to Casey's house. Casey walked out of her house, excitedly, and Marti jumped out of the truck when it came to a complete stop. Marti stopped to look at the amazing house that was built into the side of the mountain, and was in awe.

"Casey!"

Marti ran to Casey and into a tight hug.

"Oh, Marti, it's so good to see you sweetie," Casey gushed. She took a good look at Marti when she pulled away, "ready to see your room for the summer?"

"Yeah!"

"Up the stairs, third door on the right,"

Casey watched her run into her house and laughed. She turned back to Edwin and gave him a hug.

"How was the drive?"

"Long," he smirked, much like Derek, "when do you think she'll realize that she's in the actual house from that dumb show on MTV?" He asked.

There was a sudden scream of excitement.

"Now," Casey laughed out.

"My real reason for being here, not just for Marti, but I wanna talk to you about getting full custody of Marti,"

"What?" She asked, shocked, "Edwin,"

"Derek's hardly around, her diet consists of Ramen and Chef Boyardee, and his apartment was a mess before I took pictures of that God awful place,"

"Pictures?"

"I already emailed them to you,"

"Let's go inside,"

When Casey saw the pictured of Derek's apartment, she was appalled.

"Well, you have a good case here," she said to him, "I've seen worse though,"

"How would this work though?" He asked Casey.

"Well, since your mother signed her rights over, Marti would go to the person who has the most stability. And because Derek is older and is in charge of a very successful record label, she would go to him. And I also remember you both decided on the both of you having custody,"

"Right,"

"But, the chances of you gaining full custody of Marti, isn't very great," Edwin hung his head, "only because you're just about to turn nineteen, you've only been in college for a year, you have a stable income but for one person. And also, we'd be looking into weather or not you'd be a suitable provider."

"Okay,"

"Meaning, Child Protective Services would be showing up at your house to see if it's a fit environment, which by the looks of these photos, you'd probably win that portion of the case,"

"But financially?" Edwin asked.

"You really wanna do this?" She asked him.

"Yes," he said, "Marti has lost more than the rest of us combined; she deserves a good home,"

"Okay," Casey nodded, "You all received your dad's life insurance right?"

"I actually put half of mine in her savings account that our grandparent's are in charge of,"

"That's very nice of you," Casey said to him, "With her having that money, that could actually help your case, but it'll be long and Marti could be put in a home for the time being,"

That was the last thing Edwin wanted to hear.

"So you really need to think about this," She said to him. Her phone then rang and it was Derek. "Oh, so now he decides to call,"

"I'm not talking to him," Edwin said to her before he got up.

"Now you decide to call?" She asked Derek.

"Lemme talk to Ed,"

"He doesn't wanna talk to you, and I wouldn't want to either after what I've heard,"

"Oh, so you heard the "if you don't come to Laguna I'm takin' you to court" bull shit?" Derek asked her.

"Yeah, I did, and Edwin has very good reason to,"

"How the hell would you know?"

"Derek, I've seen pictures of your apartment, and I don't think Marti would lie about you not being around considering that she loves you so much. You not being around when you're the only guardian around, is a form of negligence,"

"I'm not neglecting my sister, Casey," Derek defended.

"Oh, so she's lying about not having dinner because you haven't gone shopping or you're not home to cook?"

"Casey,"

"No, I think Edwin is right," Casey snapped, "if you wanna show that you can make a change so that your sister can have a better life, come to Laguna and stay the summer, for Marti,"

"I can't just take off work," he said.

"You are your own boss, you can work from home, hell, you could even take a year off if you wanted to,"

"Casey,"

"Good bye, Derek,"

And back in downtown L.A, Derek had just thrown his phone on his bed and let out a frustrated sigh.

He wasn't going to lie, he was actually scared. He knew that he wasn't being the best guardian for Marti, and he knew that he wasn't doing the best he could. And he knew that he could be doing better. The thought of Edwin taking Marti away from him, he couldn't bear it.

And he knew that Casey was right. He could take off as much time as he wanted or needed. He just didn't want to up and leave the label and worry about it crashing down to nothing.

But he also knew that he could provide for Marti, too. And if he was going to prove that to Marti and Edwin, he knew what he had to do.

xx

A week had gone by and there was still nothing from Derek. And it was late at night.

Edwin was sitting with Lizzie in her room, just catching up, and spending some time together. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"Who could that be?" Lizzie asked her boyfriend.

"I'll go check,"

Edwin walked downstairs and peeked through the peep hole when he got to the door. He saw his brother waiting outside. He opened the door, shocked.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came for Marti,"

"Come in,"

Derek walked in and then turned to face his younger brother.

"You know what?" Derek asked Edwin, "You are absolutely insane if you think you're gonna pull this off."

"I already talked to Casey about it,"

"Why the hell would you talk to Casey about it?" Derek demanded, loudly.

"She's a lawyer; I'd rather talk to her for free and know everything before I spent money on one. And keep your voice down,"

"I'm not gonna keep my voice down!"

Suddenly, a light switched on and Derek saw Casey standing at the bottom of the stairs.

"You'll keep your voice down if you wanna stay in my house," she said to him, with a hand on her hip.

Just seeing her in a tight tank top and small shorts started making his head spin like it used to.

"Derek, what are you doing here?" She asked her former step brother.

"I'm here to get Marti back."

"Well you can have her back when you show that you can take care of her,"

"I can take care of her,"

"Derek, I'm sure you can," she said, "but you still need to show that you actually can,"

Derek groaned in frustration.

"If I could call the cops right now I would," Derek said.

"And tell them what?" Edwin asked. "Hey my brother kidnapped my sister? Derek you're insane,"

And that was all he wrote before Edwin took off back up stairs.

Casey was just standing there, waiting for Derek to say something.

"Could you possibly put a robe on or something?" He asked her.

"Derek, it's been three years, you used to see your ex girlfriends in less clothes that I have on," she said as she walked into the kitchen.

Truth be told, it didn't feel like it had been three years, it felt like it was yesterday. Sure it was his idea to break up, it still hurt.

"Casey, how could you talk to Edwin about gaining custody of Marti and be okay with it?" He asked as he walked into the kitchen as well.

"Because, Derek, it's unacceptable that you would just let Marti live like that,"

Casey and Derek were both glaring at each other. Casey finally sighed and shook her head.

"Where are you staying?"

"Well my plan was to just come here, get Marti and then leave,"

"If you want, you can stay in the guest room since Edwin isn't staying there,"

"Where the hell is he staying?" Derek asked.

"With Lizzie in her room," Casey said to Derek. She got a blank expression from him and she rolled her eyes, "they're dating,"

"Oh, that's so gross,"

"You're one to talk,"

"Oh, whatever," he muttered.

"Hey, it was your idea to break up, not mine. I thought our relationship was going great,"

"Yeah, away from home," Derek said, "I hated coming home for holidays. I hated pretending to hate you, I mean we both had some pretty low blows for each other,"

"We could have told them, but you didn't want to, so the reason why we broke up was because of you,"

"Yeah, it's all my fault. It's my fault my own brother hates me, it's my fault Marti is in this situation and it's my fault I haven't kept in touch for three years!" He snapped the last part.

"It is your fault," she said to him before she walked back to her room, leaving Derek alone with his thoughts.

xx

Derek was up at seven the next morning. When Casey came down, she was surprised to see him awake.

"What are you doing awake?" She asked him.

"Internal clock," was all he muttered.

She simply walked over to the coffee pot and poured herself some coffee.

"Sorry about snapping at you last night," he said to her.

"It's okay, I understand,"

"No, it's not okay," he said, "I've been beating myself up for the past six months," Casey stopped and looked at Derek, "I know that I can provide for Marti and I wouldn't struggle with money or anything, but at the same time, I know that I can't because I'm too involved in work,"

"You can stop, I did,"

"I'm so used to be in that building, I think I'd have an anxiety attack or something," he chuckled.

"You were thinking a lot last night weren't you?" she asked.

"Yeah,"

"Did it hurt?"

"Very funny," he muttered, sarcastically.

"Derek, you can stay for the summer," Casey said to him.

"Thanks,"

Later that day, Derek was watching from the kitchen window as Marti, Edwin, Lizzie, and Casey were in the pool. Well, Casey was actually tanning. He smirked and walked outside.

"Hey, party monsters," Derek said as he walked down the stairs to the back patio.

"Smerek!"

Marti jumped out of the pool and ran to her eldest brother. Derek picked her up and gave her a hug then but her down. He watched her jump back into the pool and then he made his way over to Casey.

"I'm surprised you're out here," she said to him.

"Yeah," he said as he sat down, "I need to work on my tan,"

"Still all about your looks, I see," she said to him.

"I have too, no one else will," he smirked.

And it was then she noticed that he was more toned and defined everywhere. And when he caught her checking him out, she decided to hide it the only way she could.

"What are you now, The Situation?"

"Please, I'm better than The Situation,"

"Right, you're more like The Aggravation," she said to him, smirking.

She then got up and Derek took this opportunity to grab her by the waist and toss her in the pool. She hit the water with a scream. And when she came up from under, she glared at him. Derek laughed and after he calmed down, Casey was still glaring at him.

"Here," he said, offering his hand to help her out of the pool.

Casey set her feet against the pool wall and grabbed his hand. She smiled at him and gave a nice strong tug. Derek fell in the pool and when he came up he didn't say anything.

"Derek?"

"These are a pair of classic Ray Bans, are you crazy?" He asked her with anger.

"Excuse me? I'm the one who should be mad,"

"Case, I'm kidding," he smirked.

"You are such a jerk!"

xx

Later that night, Derek had a small fire going to make the cool night feel warmer. Marti was currently inside, getting ready to go to the movies with Edwin and Lizzie. Casey was just sitting there, enjoying the nice night. And Derek, was just thinking about his life so far.

How did he get where he was? Why could he not think of anything to stop it?

He didn't want to tell Casey the reason why he disappeared for as long as he did because he knew that she wouldn't understand. And he just couldn't tell her.


End file.
